WiMAX

Many people in the communications space have asked me recently what TMC's secret is. After all, we are in the toughest media environment of our lifetimes and we produced our best show ever and have more paying customers online than at virtually any other time in our history.

The answer may lie in a bit of luck and some skill. The lucky part is we built our first online community for a customer about a decade ago.

It is certainly a tough time for Nortel to be trying to get a court to approve senior level management bonuses as just south of Canada here in the US, the government is focusing on taxing bonuses to employees of TARP recipients to death. The good news here is these bonuses - unlike many on Wall Street seem to be tied to cost-reduction and reducing the company's focus - or selling off parts of the business.

With all the opportunity to sell more products in the data center and the consumer electronics space, a company like Cisco can afford to simultaneously attack both markets. To that end, Cisco recently announced its entry into the blade server market and today purchased Pure Digital Technologies for $590 million, the company behind the Flip Video brand of pocket-sized video recorders.

Cisco's efforts in the consumer electronics space have not been nearly as successful as its accomplishments in the enterprise but the company seems to believe if it sells enough products in the connected home, sooner or later it will become a preferred provider in the consumer setting. They could be right but the problem for the industry today is the threat from Apple who will continue to own more and more of the home network and consumer electronics market.

SuperComm had been the nation's largest carrier event for decades and over the last seven years or so the show split into two and even three events. Some of the other names the show went by (or partially went by) were TelecomNxt, Globalcomm and NxtComm. Recently the two warring association factions the TIA and USTA made up and the show became SuperComm again which took place last June in Las Vegas.

< p>The event was very strong up until 2000 and since it split into two it has steadily decreased its attendance to the point where it is a shadow of its former self. The association wars took their toll on this event and some think the damage that was done cannot be repaired.

NTT America, a subsidiary of NTT Communications Corp is being more aggressive in getting referral partners, agents and VARs to sell its entire suite of domestic and international IP and data solutions including Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet and 10 GigE in an effort to further bolster the company's Global IP Network (GIN) Solution Partners Program

The company is pushing the channel neutral nature of their offering meaning their own sales force is not supposed to compete with the partners/resellers. Instead the goal as the company explains it is to collaborate with solution partners. One partner, Mike Nguyen of Silent Partner explains, "Their method of collaboration is almost unheard of in the industry.

PAETEC like a slew of other voice and data providers is looking to differentiate itself but perhaps its biggest asset is CEO Arunas Chesonis (pictured) whose unique style allows him to impress you about the company's direction without coming off as boasting. In fact in a recent conversation with Arunas, he told me the company is still growing and hiring. He mentioned a large non-cash charge this last quarter which made the quarter look worse than it was. I researched a bit and in the company's recent conference call there is a discussion of a goodwill impairment charge which is related to the company's acquisition of McLeodUSA.

One of the smartest and underreported moves in the communications space is Cablevision's decision to roll out its Optimum WiFi service for free in metropolitan areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. I should mention it is free if you are a current Cablevision customer. The service has come in handy for me in many instances and ensures customer loyalty. Researchers believe this subsidized offering is the reason Cablevision has had more than 70 percent sequential growth in net subscriber additions in the fourth quarter of 2008...

I woke this morning to hear GM may face bankruptcy, even though the taxpayers have loaned the company tens of billions of dollars. Later in the day I traveled to Genband where they tell me business is good. I then went to Nortel who is going through a difficult restructuring. I met with the carrier division and the good news is the company is closing deals - post Chapter 11 restructuring announcement.